Hello, sorry for the delay in responding. I sent in the letter that is on the CT CHEER site notifying the school that there is no requirement for me to file an NOI. I did that and never heard from the school again. Good luck everyone!! We have been homeschooling and LOVING it. Fiona

Keith,

My opinion based on being a veteran homeschool parent:

Most homeschoolers do not have issues with school districts and/or DCF because they are homeschooling. The challenges, sometimes, come in to play with either/or when:

1) A homeschooler gets on the radar of some busybody person (neighbor, relative) who isn't minding their business and doesn't know what they're talking about, so they call DCF out of "concern" and DCF doesn't have the brains to refuse to even accept the call. As you may know, the overwhelming majority of reports are false, unsubstantiated allegations that waste ginormous amounts of taxpayer dollars. That's because the CT reporting laws are insane.

2) Public schools have been quoted by a DCF worker in CT as "DCF's eyes and ears". Some homeschool families have some of their children that they homeschool AND some of their children that they have enrolled in public school, during any given school year. Sometimes we call them "blended families" in regards to "where" their kids are educated. I've heard of many families who have been referred, for NON-homeschool reasons, who have had the issue of their homeschooling come into question during an investigation. Again, WRONG. That should NOT happen.

3) A single parent, homeschooling, is obviously going to have to be more creative in how they accomplish the task than a two-parent family. There ARE single families who have homeschooled and the kids have done well. Just saying.

4) In South Windsor, there haven't been a lot of problems that I've heard about (and I'm active enough in the community that I hear things people have no idea about because it's kept in confidence). Homeschoolers DO get investigated for the most ridiculous reasons (religion, vegetarian-ism, etc) that are really issues that are NONE of DCF's business.

DCF should be highly supportive of homeschooling. Parents who homeschool have a love of education (whatever their personal style is) that they impart to their children; a love of learning. Homeschooled kids who go on to college (many of them) do so because they CHOOSE to, and they have a nationwide reputation of excelling because they're there by choice; not parental or peer pressure.

My opinion is that one should not fear the choice to homeschool out of fear of dealing with DCF. It's not a common "problem", and if the children want to be homeschooled and have parental support, it's a viable option to pursue. There are literally TONS of resources available for all homeschooling styles, and in today's community, there are tons OF homeschoolers in all towns. There's so much going on, no family could possibly do everything there is to do.

Best,
Diane